Former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka has breezed into the second spherical of the Qatar Open with an emphatic straight-sets defeat of Ipek Oz.
Playing her first match since shedding to Elena Rybakina within the semi-finals of the Australian Open, Azarenka dispatched Oz 6-1 6-1 on Monday.
Azarenka, a two-time champion in Doha, solely wanted 67 minutes to ebook a gathering with Belinda Bencic or Viktoriya Tomova.
World No.187 Oz was enjoying an opponent ranked contained in the Top 20 for the primary time in her profession.
Belarusian Azarenka had supportive phrases for Oz, who entered the courtroom draped in a Turkish flag to indicate assist for her nation which was rocked by devastating earthquakes final week.
“I’m sure it’s very hard for [Oz] to go out on the court and play right now, considering everything that’s going, so I wish her strength,” Azarenka mentioned throughout her on-court interview.
“Hopefully, somehow, some way, things can get better.”
Eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova battled her well beyond former Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova, needing three hours to win 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5).
Kudermetova, the 25-year-old world No.11, has gained all 4 tiebreaks she has contested this yr, and her final six relationship again to Tokyo in September. She will subsequent face both Abu Dhabi runner-up Liudmila Samsonova or wildcard Sofia Kenin.
Elsewhere, Karolina Muchov secured a formidable 6-2 6-2 win over French Open semi-finalist Martina Trevisan within the opening first-round match of the day.
Two former champions additionally efficiently navigated the qualifying rounds. 2017 winner Karolina Pliskova defeated former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-2 7-5 and 2019 winner Elise Mertens battled previous Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
